New Mexico Agricultural Education & FFA Association ......5. A patch of groundcover 6 feet x 4 feet 6. A fence 20 feet long 7. Evergreen shrub 5 feet wide 8. Deciduous tree 12 feet

Lesson C2–7

Putting the Plan on Paper

Unit C. Nursery, Landscaping, and Gardening

Problem Area 2. Residential Landscape Design

Lesson 7. Putting the Plan on Paper

New Mexico Content Standard:

Pathway Strand: Plant Systems

Standard: IV: Exercise elements of design to enhance an environment (e.g., floral, forest,

landscape, farm).

Benchmark: IV-A: Apply basic design elements and principles to create a design using

plants.

Performance Standard: 4. Use landscape design drawing tools including Computer

Aided Design (CAD) and industry-specific software.

Student Learning Objectives. Instruction in this lesson should result in students

achieving the following objectives:

1. Demonstrate how to draw plants on the landscape plan.

2. Describe how to label a landscape plan.

3. Explain how to render the landscape plan.

New Mexico Horticulture Lesson Plan Library

Unit C. Problem Area 2. Lesson 7. Page 1.

List of Resources. The following resources may be useful in teaching this lesson:

Recommended Resources. One of the following resources should be selected to accompany the

lesson:

Biondo, Ronald J. and Charles B. Schroeder. Introduction to Landscaping: Design,Construction, and Maintenance, Second Edition. Danville, Illinois: Interstate

Publishers, Inc., 2003.

Other Resources. The following resources will be useful to students and teachers:

Ingels, Jack E. Landscaping: Principles and Practices, Fifth Edition. Albany, New

York: Delmar Publishers, 1997.

List of Equipment, Tools, Supplies, and Facilities

Writing surface

Overhead projector

Transparencies from attached masters

Copies of student lab sheet

T-square

Several Landscape plans

Circle template

Scale

Drawing Pencils

Tracing Paper

Triangle

Colored pencils or markers

Terms. The following terms are presented in this lesson (shown in bold italics):

Broadleaf evergreen

Render

Title block

Interest Approach. Use an interest approach that will prepare the students for the les-

son. Teachers often develop approaches for their unique class and student situations. A possible

approach is included here.

Begin the lesson by putting the students in groups of 2 or 3. Pass out copies of several landscape plans tothe students. Ask the students to work together to answer the following questions. How many shrubs areon the plan? How many trees are needed for this design? Are there any evergreen plants needed for thisplan? How large are the shrubs by the front door? The instructor may come up with several other ques-



tions to ask. Once the students come up with several possible answers to the questions, begin a discussionto determine how the students arrived at their answers.

Summary of Content and Teaching Strategies

Objective 1: Demonstrate how to draw plants on the landscape plan.

Anticipated Problem: How are plants drawn on the landscape plan?

I. Symbols are used in the landscape industry to indicate trees, shrubs, groundcovers, flowers,

and hard scape (fences, patios, pools, etc.). The symbols are distinct for each type of plant or

physical feature drawn on the landscape plan. Although each designer will add their own

unique style to the symbols on their plan, the landscape industry does have some standards

for drawing symbols on the plans.

A. Plants are drawn on the landscape plan at their mature size. They are indicated by circles

with a plus sign in the middle to show the center of the plant.

B. Each type of plant, deciduous, evergreen, broadleaf evergreen (an evergreen plant with

wide thick leaves, not needles), groundcover, tree, and shrub, has its own distinct sym-

bol.

C. By varying the type of pencil used (2H, HB, 4H) and making lines thicker or thinner,

trees and shrubs can be made to stand out on the landscape plan.

D. It is important to be neat and accurate in drawing the symbols on your landscape plan.

One way to help students master this objective is to have the students practice drawing the symbols usedby landscape designers. LS: C2–7A is designed to give students the needed practice in this objective.TM: C2–7A will provide examples of landscape symbols.

Objective 2: Describe how to label a landscape plan.

Anticipated Problem: How is a landscape plan labeled?

II. In order to sell your landscape plan to the potential client, it is important to have a well de-

signed plan that is neat and easy to read. Plans are labeled in such a way that the average

person can read what is being presented. The labeling on the plan would include a plant list,

a list of notes, and a title block.

A. The title block is a list of information that would include the client’s name, the scale

used in the drawing, the date, and the designer’s name.

B. The plant list is a numbered list of plants that are used in the landscape. Plant lists in-

clude both the Latin name of the plant and the common name. The plants are labeled by

using numbers. Each plant is given a specific number that corresponds with that number

in the plant list. It is best to number your plans in a clockwise position, starting at the

lower left hand corner.



C. The list of notes consists of any information needed to describe details of the plan. Some

possible notes would include: the type of edging, type of mulch, location of lights in the

yard, and any physical features like the fence. These objects are labeled similar to the

plant list but letters are used to indicate their placement instead of numbers.

D. The writing on the landscape plan needs to be simple, neat, and easily read. The writing

is done in uppercase letters and is usually a basic block style with a few variations.

One way to help students master this objective is to have the students practice writing in the landscapestyle. Have the students locate each feature mentioned in the lesson and then have them recreate these fea-tures on their own plans. Use TM: C2–7B and TM: C2–7C to reinforce the concepts presented in thisobjective.

Objective 3: Explain how to render the landscape plan.

Anticipated Problem: How are landscape plans rendered?

III. It is important for the landscape designer to present his or her plan to the client in an attrac-

tive way. The designer needs to improve the appearance of his or her plan so the client can

get a good feel for what the finished plan will look like once it is put into place. One way to

enhance the landscape design is to add color to the plan.

A. To render a landscape plan, color is added to the plan. The plan can be colored with col-

ored pencils or with chalk. The plant material would be colored, as well as any physical

features like a pool or driveway.

B. By rendering a plan, the plants are colored with different shades to create the appear-

ance of depth and shadows within the plan. To begin coloring, color the entire plant

with a light color. With a medium shade, color about half of the same plant and then

with a darker color, color half of that. Try to blend the colors together.

C. When a plan has a tree with a lot of underplantings, the designer can choose to color the

tree or the shrubs under the tree. If the designer colors the shrubs, the tree is usually just

outlined in color.

One way to help students master this objective is to have them color their drawings so they get used to thistechnique. If landscape plans are available, show the plans to the students and have them compare the ap-pearance of non-rendered plans with those that were rendered. Use TM: C2–7D to illustrate how a land-scape plan is rendered.

Review/Summary. Use the student learning objectives to summarize the lesson. Have

students go back to the original plans used in the interest approach and see if they can now accu-

rately answer the questions about the plans.



Application. Application of this lesson can be achieved through the following ways:

Completing LS: C2–7A

Reading the appropriate sections Introduction to Landscaping: Design, Construction, andMaintenance

Evaluation. The evaluation of the student achievement over the lesson objectives will be

the successful completion of the lab sheets and the written test. A sample written test is attached.

Answers to Sample Test:

Part One: Matching

1=d, 2=c, 3=b, 4=a, 5=e

Part Two: Completion

1. capital

2. plus

3. mature

Part Three: Short Answer

1. designer’s name

2. client’s name

3. scale

4. date



Sample Test Name_____________________________________

Test

Lesson C2–7: Putting the Plan on Paper

Part One: Matching

Instructions. Match the symbol with the correct response.

a. d.

b. e.

c.

_______ 1. Evergreen hedge

_______ 2. Deciduous tree

_______ 3. Deciduous shrub

_______ 4. Gravel

_______ 5. Evergreen tree

Part Two: Completion

Instructions. Provide the word or words to complete the following statements.

1. Landscape writing is done in ______________ letters.

2. The center of plants are indicated with a ___________ sign.

3. Plants are drawn at their _____________ size.



Part Three: Short Answer

Instructions. Provide information to answer the following questions.

1. What information is included in a title block?



TM: C2–7A

PLANT SYMBOLS



Deciduous Trees

Deciduous Hedge

Deciduous Shrubs

Ground Cover Gravel Cobbles

Evergreen Trees

Evergreen Hedge

Evergreen Shrubs

Broadleaf EvergreenTrees

Broadleaf EvergreenHedge

TM: C2–7B



Label landscape plans in a clockwise

position using numbers for plant names

and letters for notes.

TM: C2–7C

BASIC BLOCK STYLE

LETTERS AND NUMBERS



TM: C2–7D



Landscape plans are rendered

to appeal to the client.

LS: C2–7A Name_____________________________________

Lab Sheet

Landscape Symbols

Use a 1/8 scale for each of the following:

1. Deciduous tree 18 feet wide

2. Evergreen tree 16 feet wide

3. Evergreen shrub 6 feet wide

4. Broadleaf evergreen shrub 3 feet wide



5. A patch of groundcover 6 feet x 4 feet

6. A fence 20 feet long

7. Evergreen shrub 5 feet wide

8. Deciduous tree 12 feet wide

9. Deciduous shrub 5 feet wide



Documents

New Mexico Agricultural Education & FFA Association ......5. A patch of groundcover 6 feet x 4 feet 6. A fence 20 feet long 7. Evergreen shrub 5 feet wide 8. Deciduous tree 12 feet